Rapid Fire Reviews – Secret Wars 9

Bra-vo * slow clap * You can talk about delays, or you can talk about extensions (up from 8 issues initially to 9 in the end) or you can talk about the relatively limited cast (considering it was a universal event) but I thoroughly enjoyed myself with this book. Every time it felt like the action was dying down, Hickman dropped another bomb on us, but it never felt forced or contrived. I was pretty skeptical at the start about how well they’d be able to combine all the elements of the Marvel U into one event, and even more concerned about how they’d lead into the new status quo afterwards. I think Hickman handled the task superbly, answering a lot of the questions I had myself (why 2 Spider-Men, where’s the rest of the Fantastic Four etc), even making me care about characters I previously had zero interest in. I suddenly feel strongly compelled to go read his Avengers run and even search through the Ultimate Universe for more of the Maker. Not to bypass Ribic, whose art was a beautifully light touch, atmospheric and epic both at the same time. An absolute shame it couldn’t have been timed better, but I’ll let it pass due to quality.